There was something familiar about her instinctive compulsion to rationalize her behavior, to root it in anger, because at least anger, in its sheer ferocity, can be mind-numbing. For my part, I felt a kind of kinship with Rin. I’ve heard some readers say they felt heartbroken, felt it was a breach of trust with her character. There comes a time in The Poppy War trilogy when Rin commits an indisputably atrocious act. There are no easy answers here, neither in history nor in fiction. What is at once tragic and yet compelling about the trilogy is that Rin’s path to destruction is not due to some inherent wickedness. I wanted Rin to come out, if not fully healed, then at least whole, despite the author’s clear message that no one wins in war. Rin was the reason I felt compelled to keep reading, despite the trilogy’s sometimes gratuitous violence. Yet she is developed in such a way that the reader identifies with her, roots for her, believes that, although she is misguided and makes repeated mistakes, she is driving toward the good. From this surface-level summary, Rin’s character may seem unsympathetic.
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